# Why I hate Witnessing **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 30, 2002, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-witnessing/139668 "2002-11-30T20:32:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-witnessing/139668/41 "2002-12-05T09:05:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Freyr \* > \*\*At this point, they’ve certainly broken social rules, I’m not sure the law, however. Any lawyer want to chime in here? \*\* Wouldn’t matter. Those are Caesar’s laws, they can be ignored in order to do the Lord’s Work. What they are doing and saying are much too important to allow anything to stop it. Exactly the same reasoning that **His4Ever** uses here on the SDMB. And in the extreme, the same reasoning that leads to killing doctors that perform abortions. But as long as they are not physically assaulting you, or trespassing on your property, they are probably not breaking the law. Just being incredibly rude. Lok ---
**Author:** ![Mars\_Horizon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mars_horizon/32/2804_2.png) [@Mars\_Horizon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mars_Horizon)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-witnessing/139668/42 "2002-12-05T13:26:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by blessedwolf \* > \*\ ***Polycarp,** that’s why you are one of the only people I’ve ever encountered who is _truly_ Christian \*\* 😕 but, but… how can you say that? I’ve heard it told that **Poly** puts _sugar_ on his porridge - and, and … well, you know. 😉 But seriously, to answer the OP - yes, overt prosletyizing is quite annoying, and yet one thing that has helped me to deal with folks who engage in such attempts, is to realize that **from their perspective** they are warning you about danger to come, telling you about a Wonderful Thing they have found, and eagerly hoping you will respond in the affirmative. I was an evangelical Christian for a very long time and I “won many people to Christ”, and let me tell you, the sense of relief I had when someone I cared about “trusted Christ” was overwhelming. No longer was their soul doomed to eternal torment, but instead would live forever in paradise. Also (at least when I was growing up) my fellow believers and I did not comprehend that the Vast Majority of people here in these United States are quite familiar with the claims of Christianity. Mars ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-witnessing/139668/43 "2002-12-05T14:52:30Z")
**vanilla** ---
**Author:** ![Innanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecd19e/32.png) [@Innanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Innanna)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-witnessing/139668/44 "2002-12-06T01:40:07Z")
What I’m offended by, in part, is that those who witness always seem to pick on me. I don’t recall having tattooed “godless heathen” on my forehead, and yet… For example, was in the mall, in a public restroom, with about ten other female type people. I am washing my hands when a woman grins at me, hands me a little piece of paper, and wanders off with her friend. I look down and am informed that I am going to hell. Yippie. :rolleyes: Now I can go back to my rampant commercialism. Out of all of the people there, why me? It’s not just lack of religious decoration, i.e. crosses, because my mother wasn’t wearing any either. Sheesh. Not the only incident, BTW, just the most memorable. ---
**Author:** ![LindyHopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-witnessing/139668/45 "2002-12-06T01:54:02Z")
**vanilla** : By any chance did you find this thread by searching for your username? Because if you did, the search term (“vanilla” in this case) would be red when the thread came up. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-witnessing/139668/46 "2002-12-06T02:03:01Z")
Vanilla, You found this thread with the search function, didn’t you? The search function automatically highlights the searched for words in a thread in red. Caught ya in a vanity search! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![LindyHopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-witnessing/139668/47 "2002-12-06T02:10:27Z")
Heh, heh, heh. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-witnessing/139668/48 "2002-12-06T14:11:26Z")
ahhhhhh:o ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-witnessing/139668/49 "2002-12-06T15:50:55Z")
**Mars** , having been on both sides of the Great Evangelical Divide, what would **you** see as proper behavior for persons who are moved by a concern for what they understand as others failing to take adequate care for their eternal well-being? I know what the right stance for **me** is, but obviously that is not applicable to a decent person of Evangelical bent who is convinced that God’s Justice demands the damnation of someone who has not taken the proper steps to Get Saved ™. At the same time, there **is** a matter of social propriety that they as part of our civilization ought to practice. And achieving that balance can be a tricky sort of thing. Hence, your thoughts? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-hate-witnessing/139668.md?page=2)